2797 réponses à ce sujet

[nubbers666]

the main thing that really annoyed me was the fact that my team mates and myself were stuck with only 1 wep set could not duel weild as a war or use a bow
and as a rouge i could only use daggers and not long swords

and as for preset armor on teammates well that was complete bs i like finding armor for all my teammates and not having to worry about having enough or missing out on upgrades becuase i forgot were it was at forgot to obtain it

[Dermain]

Well I randomly had a thought!!(Miraculous I know).

Seeing as the D-pad was unused for the console versions of both DAO and DA2, would it be possible to place an extra four slots for skills/items to be assigned to it?

[Otaking_EA]

Personally, I like the look of all the specific companion armor models from Morrigan on down the line. Putting crappy party hats and generic bathrobes and armor on the companions always made them look like Cirque du Soleil rejects instead of who they actually were supposed to be.

That said some customization on party members would be better for more advanced builds as it detracts from build flexibility not to choose their gear. I also found it somewhat boring that Hawke's main advantage over companions was that he could wear equipment and they couldn't. A collorary to this is Hawke needs specializations that clearly beat the companion specializations if they are allowed to wear Hawke's gear because right now Aveline can beat Hawke tanking with only a few points spent and same goes for some of Fenris' Reaver + Templar package..lots of ability for few points spent.

I'd propose keeping the companion armor upgrade system to give them additional armor slots of which any piece of the current Hawke specific armor can be put in...but it is for stats only and they keep their specific NPC look. Or maybe better yet a display only option to turn on generic armor models that took two weeks to develop or leave the custom NPC specific ones developers obviously spent a month +on showing.

[MonstaJ]

I know many of these are a repeat of criticism mentioned earlier and these are all of course just my humble opinion and may not reflect the views of everyone.

1- Please use more maps, the recycled map content was overused and became very hard to keep interest in Dragon Age 2
2- No more exploding bodies. In my opinion I much preferred the more realistic death blows in dragon age origins.
3- No more enemies appearing from the sky or thin air. I can understand spiders in a cave or perhaps rogue like characters but it really breaks the immersion and tactics when most all the enemies appear from nowhere.
4- Please let us travel beyond just Kirkwall and the immediate area. It got very boring seeing the what was supposed to be "overcrowded” city of Kirkwall and nothing really changing within the gameplay timeline.
5- More tactical combat less button smashing of awesome. Please bring back some of the more tactical combat of Origins. I really found more immersive and meaningful fights when playing Origins compared to Dragon Age 2. I find it more meaningful dying and learning from my mistakes in combat than an overpowered character or group that smashes most anything they come across wave after wave over and over again. I'd prefer just a few tough enemies, more strategically placed ambushes and smarter enemies rather than hordes of enemy waves that just end up getting mowed down.
6- More meaningful quests. Please no more go fetch this and get that for me quests, a few is alright in my opinion but too many becomes more of a chore than an adventure.
7- Less meaningless junk in the inventory
8- Items and equipment not so easily replaced, every time I turned a corner I found a better piece of equipment somewhere. It made the gear I had on feel more worthless because it was constantly going to be upgraded almost every other fight it seemed.
9- Ability to customize companions. At least to some extent, if I can’t wear something that a companion could wear I should be able to give it to them and upgrade their equipment too. I would have liked to see my companions gear upgraded throughout the game and not wearing the same clothing everyday throughout the entire story.
10- More interaction and dialogue with companions. Even if it’s not all spoken it would’ve been better to have more interaction and get to know companions better. Also less same sex interest between companions. I understand wanting to appeal to a wider audience but even if you made some of the opposite sex companions with no romance option it would be better than what it is now in my opinion. Also the romance just seems... awkward in the game. I don't want to sit their and be entertained by a fricking porn flick in game and it just doesn't seem to mesh well. Everyone is too quick to jump Hawke's bones.

A lot of my points compare this to Origins and while Dragon Age 2 was decent, it was not held to the same standard as Origins in my opinion. Too many changes and too drastic of changes to a game that just needed small tweaks to really be a perfect game. I hope that Bioware goes back to their roots and the great games and storytelling that they have had as a standard in their RPG's for many years. This was a bit of a letdown compared to the many great games you have all released and we fell in love with in the past. Thank you for your time.

[foogoo]

MonstaJ wrote...

I know many of these are a repeat of criticism mentioned earlier and these are all of course just my humble opinion and may not reflect the views of everyone.

1- Please use more maps, the recycled map content was overused and became very hard to keep interest in Dragon Age 2
2- No more exploding bodies. In my opinion I much preferred the more realistic death blows in dragon age origins.
3- No more enemies appearing from the sky or thin air. I can understand spiders in a cave or perhaps rogue like characters but it really breaks the immersion and tactics when most all the enemies appear from nowhere.
4- Please let us travel beyond just Kirkwall and the immediate area. It got very boring seeing the what was supposed to be "overcrowded” city of Kirkwall and nothing really changing within the gameplay timeline.
5- More tactical combat less button smashing of awesome. Please bring back some of the more tactical combat of Origins. I really found more immersive and meaningful fights when playing Origins compared to Dragon Age 2. I find it more meaningful dying and learning from my mistakes in combat than an overpowered character or group that smashes most anything they come across wave after wave over and over again. I'd prefer just a few tough enemies, more strategically placed ambushes and smarter enemies rather than hordes of enemy waves that just end up getting mowed down.
6- More meaningful quests. Please no more go fetch this and get that for me quests, a few is alright in my opinion but too many becomes more of a chore than an adventure.
7- Less meaningless junk in the inventory
8- Items and equipment not so easily replaced, every time I turned a corner I found a better piece of equipment somewhere. It made the gear I had on feel more worthless because it was constantly going to be upgraded almost every other fight it seemed.
9- Ability to customize companions. At least to some extent, if I can’t wear something that a companion could wear I should be able to give it to them and upgrade their equipment too. I would have liked to see my companions gear upgraded throughout the game and not wearing the same clothing everyday throughout the entire story.
10- More interaction and dialogue with companions. Even if it’s not all spoken it would’ve been better to have more interaction and get to know companions better. Also less same sex interest between companions. I understand wanting to appeal to a wider audience but even if you made some of the opposite sex companions with no romance option it would be better than what it is now in my opinion. Also the romance just seems... awkward in the game. I don't want to sit their and be entertained by a fricking porn flick in game and it just doesn't seem to mesh well. Everyone is too quick to jump Hawke's bones.

A lot of my points compare this to Origins and while Dragon Age 2 was decent, it was not held to the same standard as Origins in my opinion. Too many changes and too drastic of changes to a game that just needed small tweaks to really be a perfect game. I hope that Bioware goes back to their roots and the great games and storytelling that they have had as a standard in their RPG's for many years. This was a bit of a letdown compared to the many great games you have all released and we fell in love with in the past. Thank you for your time.

1. Yes more unique maps per quest. Recycled maps should be kept to a minimum. This was an issue for me. Another thought is bettar map design. I mean the architecture, art, and evironments were dreary and drab to say the least from an artistic point of view.
2. Exploding bodies for certain mage spells only
3. It's called flanking of which is a legit battle strat, it's fine with me cuz it's more challenging but I easy counter it anyway with proper micro.
4. Or more maps
5. I don't recall any button mashing for this game? I don't know if it's me but when you get to a certain level in DAO, tactics don't mean nothing any more cuz your party gets so powerful that it crushes everything with little effort even on nightmare. Certain spells in DAO like forcefield and crushing prison are so imba that I get bored, now in DA2, firestorm is so imba as well that no mob can survive it.
6. I get this, yes maybe. Although DAO had fetch this and that quests as well.
7. I didn't get junk either
8. There are a lot of mediocre equipment
9. Yes. I don't get why this was removed.
10. Nah it's fine. You can deny any advances anyway.

[JerHopp]

I am probably one of the last people to respond here,  but here is my input and you are free to do with it what you
like Bioware devs:D (NO, don’t throw it in the trash, and NO don’t delete my input)

First things first: I like DA2 a lot(!), so well done Bioware for giving me 40/50 hours of fun and excitement: the story, the combat and the upgraded overall design.. LOVE IT!


Now the criticism:
It’s too bad to see there weren’t a lot of areas to explore, and Kirkwall wasn’t as big and as populated as the story would claim it to be. I read this a lot on this forum and I have to agree with that.


The other things that stood out for me are the following:

The  loading time between different areas: too long
Okay, let me explain this: I find there are a lot of quests in DA2 (secondary, companion, side) which demands you visit different areas in Kirkwall. But between all that switching I have to wait and you will get a loading screen.  It’s okay when a quest is big and you have to stay in an area relatively long, but that’s hardly the case:

Go to the Gallows-LOADING….-walking talking fighting in Gallows for a couple of minutes-go to Lowtown- LOADING….-fighting or having conversation for a couple of minutes-go to Hightown-LOADING….- fighting talking, reclaim your reward or wrap the quest up back in the Gallows-LOADING…-In the Gallows and the quest is finished.

My point? – too much loading! Or make the quests longer in the same area.

PS: this is on the PS3 and I have no idea what it is like on the pc or the 360.


Conversation wheel: different attitudes?
When my Hawke is in conversation with a character his attitude suddenly changes.

I have to give an example to get my point across:
In one of my playthroughs in any conversation, my first reaction is using the red or purple icon. The character reacts to that and I am given the opportunity to INVESTIGATE or give a direct reaction to whatever the respond is from the character I am talking to.

Now the problem I have is the switching between INVESTIGATE attitude and my red/purple icon : they are both very different.  The INVESTIGATE questions are more diplomatic/nice/really interested and when I’m done with the investigate options (which can take very long, depending on how much you want to know) I respond with the red/purple icon.  That makes any conversation really weird.

It’s also kinda of hard to follow what the original question/remark  was when there is a lot of conversation in the INVESTIGATE section. A lot of the time I didn’t even know what the character asked or responsed before all of the investigation. Maybe it should be more balanced between investigation and responding?  Or I should do something with my attention span…

Design text & icons:
I did not like that design:  it was too geometrical, a bit too simplistic: the text was just written in ‘times new roman’ (?) and the icons were like buttons you see on an new computer application. It did not had the feel of fantasydesign I would have liked to see.

I know this is kinda nitpicking, and you probably wanted to avoid cliché design, but I believe it’s important to get the overall feeling of a fantasybased game: and that includes the user interface design also.

That's all!

JerHopp out!

Modifié par JerHopp, 17 juin 2011 - 07:48 .

[ddv.rsa]

Spoken dialog was often quite different than the text on the wheel.

[JerHopp]

ddv.rsa wrote...

Spoken dialog was often quite different than the text on the wheel.

Yes, and also this!

[Foolsfolly]

ddv.rsa wrote...

Foolsfolly wrote...

I've said before on this site, the one thing I want is to separate cruel petty mean things from Rivalry points. Rivalry is a deepened relationship and being cruel and mean just doesn't deepen relationships. These options should remain in the game but should subtract from either Friendship or Rivalry to bring it closer to the middle of the slide.

This is a pretty cool idea. If you haven't already you should post this in the "Constructive Criticism" thread.

[hansbricks]

I did not think anything in DA2 was better than DA. Here is what I have come to expect from BioWare games that was lacking:

1. PC is a member of an elite group (bhaalspawn, jedi, spectres, grey wardens, etc).
2. Your enemy is threatening you directly and is introduced very early in the game so you have a clear purpose and your involvement is not optional.
3. You can play good or evil with a serious impact on gameplay.
4. The enemies you see are the enemies you pull. No multiple waves in one battle.
5. Fewer, tougher enemies in trash pulls and not just hack n slash through scores of weak enemies. (See above).
6. More companions with more class diversity.
7. Freedom in gearing companions.

Thank you in advance for your time.

[Melca36]

There should have been a follow up to the Magistrate's Orders quest where if you kill his son, there is an occasion random event where assassins try to kill you. And you get one final showdown at the end with a decent loot reward.

[Brwarner]

hansbricks wrote...


I did not think anything in DA2 was better than DA. Here is what I have come to expect from BioWare games that was lacking:

1. PC is a member of an elite group (bhaalspawn, jedi, spectres, grey wardens, etc).
2. Your enemy is threatening you directly and is introduced very early in the game so you have a clear purpose and your involvement is not optional.
3. You can play good or evil with a serious impact on gameplay.
4. The enemies you see are the enemies you pull. No multiple waves in one battle.
5. Fewer, tougher enemies in trash pulls and not just hack n slash through scores of weak enemies. (See above).
6. More companions with more class diversity.
7. Freedom in gearing companions.

Thank you in advance for your time.

I agree with everything except 1 & 2. I enjoyed the diversion from the typical "This is the evil thing of unquestionable evilness that is going to kill everything unless YOU stop it." It's gotten too typical and not interesting. I think there was a lot of stumbling as Bioware attempted to create a very different kind of story, but from what I've seen the Dev's post, it seems they've learned from it. I look forward to many new kinds of stories!

[Flamin Noraa]

I think the best constructive criticism for this game would be that it seemed rushed out and so some things were noticeably repeated or not polished enough. Bioware listened with the patch and reduced the silly violence levels etc. I would've thought most people would be happy if there was a longer development time for DA3 to make sure it was perfect.

[Uccio]

Melca36 wrote...

There should have been a follow up to the Magistrate's Orders quest where if you kill his son, there is an occasion random event where assassins try to kill you. And you get one final showdown at the end with a decent loot reward.

Indeed, its seems that this quest was left unfinished. If the magistrate was so fond if his child that he was willing to bend the law to save him he should have reacted much more than just being angry when his kid was killed. It seemed that some of the quests were not throughly done.

1. thrash loot: I can understand that there are only trash available in most places but when my character finds a gold bar or gets a ancient one-of-a-kind tome from elves it suddenly seems that these items are only worth couple of coppers in the open market? How strange is that? Toomuch trash in the game.

2. earning money: strange that there is a option in the game to aquire a mine but at no point there is no option to make money with it. One would think that making the mine operational would be a suitable goal since living in hightown must be expensive.

3. I missed some lighter episodes from the game, having to do with the situation when Hawke´s mom mentioned of finding him a suitable bride. A couple of ankward dates with a possiblity to marry one of the available maidens (if the character would not want to marry one of his companions) with a side story of having a possibility of secret affair with a companion. Those kind of storylines would have made the game a bit more enjoyable.

Overall I enjoyed the dark mood of the game after the initial shock I had from jumping from DAO to the different storyline of DA2

[DiRally BSN]

 Apart from my post in the Customer Review Thread:
social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/304/index/6435162/31#7200873

i would like to give some random feedback.

• In case of the accessibility i had wished that in the beginning tutorial there would have been a introduction to the Active/Sustained/Passive mechanic, and also give me a hand in forcing me to do my first CrossclassCombo.
• I think as an strong IP it needs a distinctive weapon design, right now it's generic. For Example i liked in DA2 the weapon design of Qunari weapons (Black/Silver-Metal with minor applications) where i know that this is DA. The half-staff/half-blade version of a mage's staff seems like such a trademark for DA. And when enchantments are applied, i would like to see some slender mild glowing carvings/markings on my weapon (like Maric's Blade) to have a sense of personality and simply good looks.
• The same distinctiveness would be also nice for the armor design. Apart of the Mantle of the Champion the armor design doesn't appeal to me. I think the main reason for this, is that you don't model breastplates with nice contour's. They look mostly like giant sacks with a texture applied. In the same spot i have to allude that i mostly sported the Armor of the wall/ cuirass of the centurion because it was the only armor in which i looked like a man ( you know with muscles and wide shoulders) in the Champion's armor (male/warrior) i looked to skinny minny.- It may be ridiculous to allude it, but it freaked the snizzle out of me
• So the inventory system: i could suggest to ditch those buffs in form of ring's/belts/amulets, it just seems so unneccessary. If not ditched, just give my character an actual visable good looking ring/amulet which i can apply my own buff on it (enchantment). The UserInterface for this system should get a major overhaul, it looks just to old - at least for my taste-
• Please ditch the 'Junk' system, just give me my coin at the end of an succesful mission. My champion really should't look for 'torn trowsers'. Immersion breaker IMO
• Something that i really couldn't find amusing was the fact a lot of awesome scenes which were present in the 'Launch Trailer' (all those scenes in this last trailer were the actual reason for me  purchasing the game) are not in the game. Qunari/Hawke battle cutscene in Kirkwall !!! Arishok and platoon on sundermount!!! Dragon flying into the city!!! That left a bad taste in my mouth.
• Since it really happened temporarily, and is no mocking: browse.deviantart.com/   So instead of WoW-like end boss raids can we have a good experience in form of a nice QuickTimeEvent battle?!
• A suggestion to connect better to the city . This is how the arrival in kirkwall should have looked like IMO browse.deviantart.com/
• Camera work: In the quest 'Birthrigth' where the leandra/gamlen/hawke/sibling scene appears, the camera shots are really cool, they are dynamic and underline the expressions of the characters, i would like to see these kind of work way more often.
• Facial Animation: i have to say the lips/jaws/nostril animations are quite good, what downs them is the eye/eyebrow/forehead area, there are like 3 steps in the eyebrow animation, if that area can be improved i think your facial animations would be for a 30+ hour game pretty impressive.

   Ok so, in it's core i think the game is perfectly fine, what it still hinders to get a overall '90' for me is simply the              presentation/visuals/graphics. Dynamic Lightning, lush colors/enviroments. Since i can't share the critique that  the city is to lifeless, i guess for me it has to be the presentation.
   (apart that this screenshot is from a wholly different genre, i think you get it)  www.pcgames.de/screenshots/667x375/2011/05/Sniper-Ghost-Warrior-2-screenshot-001.jpg
 And to the overall critique the game gets, it's partly deserved BUT that's because you chose to give that product such an short development cycle. So we know you can do better. And i can totally understand that as a company you simply have to make good money to go on. BUT was that game worth it? 
It could have been released in July ( or did your marketing department determined March for the perfect market window ,- so be it) to get that game in way better shape. I mean two month after i purchased the game was the first time i could play it without gamebreaking bugs, all abilities functionable and the big import feature correctly applied.
It just leaves such a  bad taste in my mouth, since i fell in love with the DA franchise and just wish it would always be a '90-AAA-Blockbuster' .... which DA2 clearly wasn't.
But i think also that the franchise goes in the right direction (at least so i can enjoy it). And actually i wished it would be mass effect just in the dragon age universe, i do because mass effect was the first RPG that had an great universe AND awesome gameplay like gears of war, where my skills/reflexes ( sure, tactical skills are also part of it)
ruled, and not the dice beneath it.

Modifié par RokkDragon, 19 juin 2011 - 08:44 .

[quaresma_Pt]

hansbricks wrote...


I did not think anything in DA2 was better than DA. Here is what I have come to expect from BioWare games that was lacking:

1. PC is a member of an elite group (bhaalspawn, jedi, spectres, grey wardens, etc).
2. Your enemy is threatening you directly and is introduced very early in the game so you have a clear purpose and your involvement is not optional.
3. You can play good or evil with a serious impact on gameplay.
4. The enemies you see are the enemies you pull. No multiple waves in one battle.
5. Fewer, tougher enemies in trash pulls and not just hack n slash through scores of weak enemies. (See above).
6. More companions with more class diversity.
7. Freedom in gearing companions.

Thank you in advance for your time.

 Good  feedback. Wow and i don t really care about the graphics just do MORE MAPS! and some citys. NOt boring kirkwall.

 See this bioware!

Modifié par quaresma_Pt, 19 juin 2011 - 05:28 .

[dVl05]

My biggest issues with Dragon Age 2 were the story, character
development and customization. I am going to try to avoid saying what
has been repeated about this game and give my own personal opinions so
here it
goes:


Main Plot

-First let me say, Dragon Age: Origins is in
my top 5 favorite games of all time. That game had everything I look
for in a RPG. One of the main reasons is the story. Being able to choose
your back story, you become a Gray Warden traveling around the world
recruiting races and making difficult decisions. And most of all it gave
the player a sense of adventure. The whole atmosphere
of Origins gave me such a magical feeling and I was SO engaged in that
game from the moment I started it. Sadly, I can not say the same about
Dragon Age 2. There was no adventure, you are in the same city, running
around the re used areas playing police. When I pick up an RPG
(especially a successor to Origins) I want to take part in a story on a
large scale, go on an adventure to different
places, experiencing new environments...etc. I did not experience that in this game.


Character Development

-In Origins, I felt
emotionally attached to most of my party members. Morrigan's story and
romance was incredible. Allistar's back story and development into a
king was also fantastic. Every party member brought something new to the
table and I liked all of them. I also enjoyed being able to talk to
them whenever I wanted. Just traveling the world with them watching them develop as the story went on was great.  I didn't feel that way in 2. I can't find the
right words to explain why, but none of the party members interested
me or got me engaged in their stories.



Customization
-I was very disappointed that I could not choose a race, but I have nothing else to say that hasn’t been said about that.
-I was also disappointed that you couldn't equip what you wanted on your party members and yourself. When I am able to customize my characters in which ever way I want, I feel like I have more control and get more engaged in the game, leading to a more enjoyable experience.



Well I did my best to be as clear as possible. This is my first time posting something like this so it might be a little messy. I usually don’t find the need to post because I agree with what is already posted but I loved Origins so
much and was so disappointed by 2 that I figured I would voice my opinion.  

Modifié par dVl05, 19 juin 2011 - 06:27 .

[Uccio]

Mages should really be the "heavy artillery" of the game. At times it seemed that my mage was trying to slap enemies to death with a wet newspaper roll, without companions he would have been cut down in no time. Magic should be more powerfull.

Also, considering that blood magic should be "The Power Magic" which everyone seems to fear to the bone in the game world the options available for use of it are really minor. Scorthing/controlling enemies with one spell and drawing power from either allies or dead enemies do not make it something to be afraid off. Player cannot even call those wraiths or anything remotely as bad to aid him in battle (enemies can though).  If my character chooses to become blood mage I would think that such decisions do have impact on the story and option I have in it since being a blood mage is the key to have templars and chantry looking over mages.

(combined from my other posts)

Modifié par Ukki, 19 juin 2011 - 07:31 .

[lofte_2000]

Patch 1.03 has made a big difference to the game though many more improvements are necessary to make this game what it has the potential to be. Possibly too much work for the team to go back to now and change? Can be added as DLC or a toolset would be perfect, perhaps both? I just can't get around the ending though, an alternative ending would have been nice depending on choices made throughout the game but maybe that's something that can be incorporated into DA3.

Forgot to add; for whatever reason...I didn't feel as much for my Hawke as I did my Warden, maybe lack of importance or simply not as much...I'm not sure.

Modifié par lofte_2000, 20 juin 2011 - 09:52 .

[trademark2]

so far: there should have been a smuggling mission when i joined the smugglers instead of just skipping ahead.

I like the bisexuality thing

Modifié par trademark2, 20 juin 2011 - 11:52 .

[DubiousPigeon]

That is a thought. It doesn't seem like choosing smuggler/mercenary makes much of a difference and that first year that you're supposedly working for them, you don't get to actually work for them and see what Hawke and co had to do to pay off their debt.

[lofte_2000]

Perhaps that first year could be expanded a little? *ponders*

[Kimberly Shaw]

hansbricks wrote...


I did not think anything in DA2 was better than DA. Here is what I have come to expect from BioWare games that was lacking:

1. PC is a member of an elite group (bhaalspawn, jedi, spectres, grey wardens, etc).
2. Your enemy is threatening you directly and is introduced very early in the game so you have a clear purpose and your involvement is not optional.
3. You can play good or evil with a serious impact on gameplay.
4. The enemies you see are the enemies you pull. No multiple waves in one battle.
5. Fewer, tougher enemies in trash pulls and not just hack n slash through scores of weak enemies. (See above).
6. More companions with more class diversity.
7. Freedom in gearing companions.

Thank you in advance for your time.

This is great, succint feedback. Bioware are you listening?  I agree so much with this.  (Despite yes, #1 and #2 some people thought needed to have a little break from, but it makes for a more epic tale in my opinion).

[playdude92]

Hey,
I´d like to add my criticism as well as general opinion. I´m aware, that a lot of my points have been made before.

criticism

1. Lack of real involvement in the story because of missing dialogue, personalities, meaning:
I found myself oddly untouched and -interested in this game. I also cared surprisingly little about my companions and the people I met in Kirkwall. I think, that the reason for that is the brevity of encounters and conversations and the missing depth of the storys. For example the Deep Roads Expedition: You enter a long-lost tunnel system with temples and golems but don´t get to know the real history of the place, besides the very general and few things this Rock-Wraith tells you at the end. Same with this artifact, that appearently has this unique power. But that´s about all you find out about it. In contrast you could take the Urn of Sacred Ashes from Origins. Throughout the proceeding part of the game you learn so much about its history. (Of Andrastes death, the holyness of the symbol, the REASON for its powers). To my other point, the brevity of conversations: This game needed to take itself a bunch of more time to let me get to know the characters, most importantly the companions: Let us visit them and ask them about thier pasts, hobbys (like Lelianas passions for tales), new home, beliefs and dreams or even their faith. The possibiltys are endless and there just should have been much longer and intense conversations with your companions with at least 3 times the information about them. Because I didn´t think the characters were boring, just underdeveloped.

2. Too little space, diversity of environments: The story seemed about half as long as Origins, but the places you visit have, maybe, a fith part the size of Origins. That does get a little repetetive.

3. Your place in the story: For the longest part of the game you play as a mercenary. That means you accept missions from templars, citizens or mages out of unclear motivations, other than earning gold and status. I think that this kind of existence makes sense for people in this world, but it was taken as a little to self-explanatory in the game. It defeates the purpose of making these really cool little storys for the Quests a bit, because Hawke´s doin it for the money. At the very least I would have liked to have seen (and played) family discussions about the future of the Hawke family. All the larger and smaller storys (except when something´s happening directly to your family) lose meaning when you´re not doing them to archieve some kind of  greater goal (like ending the blight). The personal involvement is kind of secondary because of that, you´re there to do a job and just can decide how you approach it. Of course later in the story you get more power to decide.

general opinion

I liked the game and thought it was good, with improved, intensified combat and a cleaned out ability system. The storys were interesting, but lacked for personal involvement. I was disappinted when comparing the depth of the story of this game and Origins, which was detailed as hell. What kept me going was the fun of making progress (like any RPG), the fun-as-hell combat (eventhough there were annyoing spikes in the difficulty) and the cool litlle storys (like the Qunari-mage-story). I especially loved the characters Varric and the Arishock! But, sadly, the storys also often came across as short and shallow and lacking for a lot of content (For example: Qunari Invasion and Deep Roads Expedition were surprisingly and disappointingly short). In conclusion, a good, fun-to-play but to superficial game (which is not about the new customization and crafting - I liked that! )

[Wozearly]

michaftw79 wrote...

I'm sure the plot of DA2 is parrallelling the struggle with EA anyway.  EA (the templars) are trying to put constraints on Bioware staff (the mages) and force them into a mold, but some revoluntionary like David Gaider? - I'm struggling here!( Anders/Hawke) is going to a start a massive revolt which sees Bioware regain their freedom from their overbearing handlers and once again deliver great RPGs for the people!  Well that's the fairy tale anyway.

I now have this unshakeable image of David Gaider's eyes glowing bright blue as he blazes through the EA head office with a shotgun screaming "Don't you DARE rush me again!".

Okay, back to topic.

I'm in a quandary, here. When I started playing DA2, I wanted to love it. Guys, you have no idea just how much I wanted to love it. After playing through the demo my spirits fell distinctly and during the first playthrough I got into Act 2 and then dropped the game for a bit to do something else. In comparison, I think it was two full playthroughs of DA:O before I felt any desire to get into any other games, and I'm still by no means finished with Origins.

So yes, I'm on *that* side of the divide - loved Origins, deeply disappointed by DA2. Specifically;

1) Combat: Speed & Feel. The combat didn't wow me - the PC and party felt like they were on permanent haste while enemies struggled along at normal speed. I didn't like the rebalancing away from smaller groups of broadly comparable (albeit weaker) enemies to the party in favour of multiple waves of mediocre opponents with a couple of ridiculously strong ones thrown in from time to time. And random immunities. And people appearing from thin air, etc. etc.

2) Abilities & the Awesome Button. Abilities were almost all slightly too awesome - due to the number of enemies, AoE attacks were no-brainers in many cases and there were several options to one-shot or two-shot normal mobs (not something you could do easily, or for limited energy, back in DA:O). The ablities that weren't awesome were generally in the healing/support trees. As an example, the mages lacked the ability to diversify self/group healing even to Origins levels - my original mage concept was as a support character, which nearly borked the playthrough. Plus, why is Blood Magic consistently the least threatening of all magic trees? I personally feel it should have a darker, more dangerous flavour to it.

Otherwise, I liked the ability paths. I hated them at first sight, but they grow on you...just felt there were a few too many restrictions and/or artificial barriers in the way within paths, forcing you to take things you only wanted just to get something you did want (which I believe these were meant to avoid?).

3) Grapical Style. Locations were prettier and I like what you did with the engine capabilities. Except for fire, which looked distinctly ropey throughout. But stylistically - not happy. The redesign of the darkspawn made them look distinctly less scary/disturbing/threatening. Particularly the emissaries. Flemeth's redesign was distinctly odd, but I'll give her points for awesome. Didn't like the new style of armours much, really didn't like some of the even-larger-than-in-Origins weaponry. Wasn't taken with the new-look elves. Or the hefty area re-use.

But in general, what annoyed me was that the new style had a different feel to it. Everything was more excessive (particularly in combat) and exaggerated. Exploding bodies from stabbing, random teleporting abilities, etc.

4) Kirkwall. I'll limit this to three things. Firstly, it didn't feel alive - very empty and scripted. It certainly didn't feel like it evolved or changed over 10 years, even though this was linked heavily to the plot. Secondly, it felt like a series of random disconnected areas (ie Denerim, not Orzammar), and aside from codex entries describing why each spot was different, they didn't really have a hugely different feel to them. Thirdly, the disconnect between the player and the environment - NPCs merrily walking through battles, templars ignoring flagrant displays of blood magic under their noses, no-one finding it even remotely surprising that robbers/thugs/guard impersonators roam in packs of thirty.

5) Characterisation. Again, disconnect was a familiar theme here. Having few options to actually explore a character's background, not just their current motives. Being unable to change a significant chunk of their equipment. Having to go to certain places just to have a conversation with them. Having them still do the same things at critical points in the quest line irrespective of their friendship/rivalry with you (huge opportunity missed there...). Having one of your siblings die in the first ten minutes of gameplay (and subsequent events) creating a disconnect between the player and his family members. Not having some time in Lothering pre-Blight that would have established more meaning and made players actually, well, care about what happened to anyone.

6) Quests. Far too much Fed Ex work. But the letters? Brilliant touch - really nice development from the concept used in Awakening, which was a bit clumsy. The trunk of awesome DLC pieces was a bit, well, frustrating. The sheer amount of DLC included and how much it badly wrecks the balance in Act 1 was annoying. I would have preferred them to become available during the game - however, as there have been moves across Bioware franchises to sell premium weapons/armour etc. as DLC then my preferences may not be in line with your strategy.

7) Storyline. Again, disconnect at work. Your path as the champion feels very highly scripted. It would have been better to have had a more distinct opportunity for the player to stamp their mark on the world by their actions and decisions - with the closed community of Kirkwall, the potential for this was huge...but sadly missed. It was also a bit...well...odd and disconnected between the three acts. Act 1 was a lot of Fed Ex work with some okay-ish plot surprises. Act 2 was brilliantly executed in the round. Act 3, by contrast, was a let down. Its so hard to say exactly why, but Act 2 just worked far, far better than the others.

...so why am I in a quandary? Because despite all of the above, despite all of the huge feeling of disappointment at the direction of the franchise, having come back to DA2 a bit more recently it is, actually, a good game. It just doesn't hold a candle to Origins.

As that was my benchmark for success in the Dragon Age series, I've spent the last couple of months being, perhaps, a little too harsh on DA2. But serves Bioware right for setting the bar so damn high in DA:O.